Reconsidering the Inheritance of Fairy Tales and Fables in Goblin Market
In thinking about Goblin Market as a poem meant for children as I read the poem, I was struck by how similar the poem is to many of the fairy tales from Charles Perrault and his Tales of Mother Goose (late 1600s) and the Brothers Grimm. What’s interesting is that the Brothers Grimm, who first published their works in 1812, wrote and reworked many of Perrault’s tales to be fitting for children. The way I see the poem as a re-imagined folk tale is in line with the purpose of these tales, which was to be retold to children as morals/lessons. Along these same lines, the traditional tropes found in fairy tales and fables are found in Goblin Market.
While the authors I mentioned are male, fairy tales are a traditionally female genre of storytelling that Maria Tatar argues in the Introduction to the Norton Critical Edition of The Classic Fairy Tales has been related solely to the domestic from the beginnings of the genre in Ancient Greece with Plato referring to the “old wives’ tale” in the Gorgias as a negative term. Tatar mentions how Perrault meant his tales to be “old wives’ tales ‘told by governesses and grandmothers to little children’” (x). Tatar references Marina Warner’s historical analysis and tracing of the old wives’ tale as both a learning tool and a pejorative term. What’s interesting is that fairy tales live in-between the literate and non-literate worlds because they are meant to be oral stories and many of the traditional fairy tales come from long-standing oral traditions. This seems to be directly linked to poetry and Goblin Market because it’s clear from the writing style and sing-songy cadence that the poem is meant to be read aloud by children. The short lines and rhythmic pattern makes the song easy to memorize and recite.
This concept becomes important when we think about oral cultures and traditions where recitation was the focus. Also, as has been traced by Tatar, Warner, and fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes, many of these tales were held in the domestic space because, as Perrault said, the stories were meant for women to tell to children and other women as learning tools. In Perrault’s tales, this is obvious through the “morals” at the end of each story. The reader/speaker will not miss the lessons of those stories because he points it out. The Brothers Grimm take many of Perrault’s stories and make them more appropriate for children by taking out some of the overt and graphic violence. However, it’s clear that Rossetti inherits and uses this long-standing tradition for Goblin Market.
The set-up for most fairy tales is that we are in a reality that is outside of real time and space, ie, Once Upon a Time. Rossetti sets this up from the beginning when we don’t know where the story is taking place. However, at the end of the poem, we know that it was a “haunted glen” where the goblin men would come to seduce the young girls. Clearly the use of goblins or supernatural creatures as symbolic of socially destructive elements is in line with many of the elements and tropes find in fairy tales. Another element is some sort of magical or divine intervention. In Goblin Market, Lizzie saves Laura through not succumbing to the seduction of eating the goblin fruit. To me, this could be a reference to the biblical Garden of Eden and not eating the fruit of knowledge, or it could also relate to the Gods ambrosia, where some traditions say, if you eat of the fruit, you must stay in heaven with the Gods. Either way, there are consequences for eating the fruit, which is our moral of the story.
Reconsidering the Inheritance of Fairy Tales and Fables in Goblin Market
In thinking about Goblin Market as a poem meant for children as I read the poem, I was struck by how similar the poem is to many of the fairy tales from Charles Perrault and his Tales of Mother Goose (late 1600s) and the Brothers Grimm. What’s interesting is that the Brothers Grimm, who first published their works in 1812, wrote and reworked many of Perrault’s tales to be fitting for children. The way I see the poem as a re-imagined folk tale is in line with the purpose of these tales, which was to be retold to children as morals/lessons. Along these same lines, the traditional tropes found in fairy tales and fables are found in Goblin Market.
While the authors I mentioned are male, fairy tales are a traditionally female genre of storytelling that Maria Tatar argues in the Introduction to the Norton Critical Edition of The Classic Fairy Tales has been related solely to the domestic from the beginnings of the genre in Ancient Greece with Plato referring to the “old wives’ tale” in the Gorgias as a negative term. Tatar mentions how Perrault meant his tales to be “old wives’ tales ‘told by governesses and grandmothers to little children’” (x). Tatar references Marina Warner’s historical analysis and tracing of the old wives’ tale as both a learning tool and a pejorative term. What’s interesting is that fairy tales live in-between the literate and non-literate worlds because they are meant to be oral stories and many of the traditional fairy tales come from long-standing oral traditions. This seems to be directly linked to poetry and Goblin Market because it’s clear from the writing style and sing-songy cadence that the poem is meant to be read aloud by children. The short lines and rhythmic pattern makes the song easy to memorize and recite.
This concept becomes important when we think about oral cultures and traditions where recitation was the focus. Also, as has been traced by Tatar, Warner, and fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes, many of these tales were held in the domestic space because, as Perrault said, the stories were meant for women to tell to children and other women as learning tools. In Perrault’s tales, this is obvious through the “morals” at the end of each story. The reader/speaker will not miss the lessons of those stories because he points it out. The Brothers Grimm take many of Perrault’s stories and make them more appropriate for children by taking out some of the overt and graphic violence. However, it’s clear that Rossetti inherits and uses this long-standing tradition for Goblin Market.
The set-up for most fairy tales is that we are in a reality that is outside of real time and space, ie, Once Upon a Time. Rossetti sets this up from the beginning when we don’t know where the story is taking place. However, at the end of the poem, we know that it was a “haunted glen” where the goblin men would come to seduce the young girls. Clearly the use of goblins or supernatural creatures as symbolic of socially destructive elements is in line with many of the elements and tropes find in fairy tales. Another element is some sort of magical or divine intervention. In Goblin Market, Lizzie saves Laura through not succumbing to the seduction of eating the goblin fruit. To me, this could be a reference to the biblical Garden of Eden and not eating the fruit of knowledge, or it could also relate to the Gods ambrosia, where some traditions say, if you eat of the fruit, you must stay in heaven with the Gods. Either way, there are consequences for eating the fruit, which is our moral of the story.